Inauguration The
Mexican Constitution states that the President must be inaugurated by taking the oath of office before Congress in the lower house, the
Chamber of Deputies. The PRD opposition had threatened to not allow Calderón to take the oath of office and be inaugurated as president. Ahead of claims that the PRD would disrupt the proceedings, the PAN took control of Congress's main floor three days before the inauguration was scheduled. On 30 November 2006, outgoing President
Vicente Fox Quesada and still President-elect Felipe Calderón Hinojosa stood side by side on national television as Fox turned over the presidential sash to a cadet, who handed it to Calderón. Afterwards, Fox read a short speech indicating that he had concluded his mandate by receiving the flag "that had accompanied him during the last six years which he had devoted himself completely to the service of Mexico and had the utmost honor of being the president of the republic". Calderón then made a speech to the Mexican public indicating that he would still attend the inauguration ceremony at the Chamber of Deputies. He made a call to unity. Calderón's inauguration ceremony on 1 December at the
Congress of the Union was tense and lasted less than five minutes, as he barely managed to recite the
oath of office while the PRD legislators shouted in protest against the alleged electoral fraud and attempted to impede his inauguration, and afterward he quickly left the building for security reasons as some of the legislators engaged in violent brawls. Besides the claims of fraud, Calderón took office with the smallest percentage of votes for a winning presidential candidate in Mexican history (35.8%), which meant that his administration would face severe legitimacy problems. Only a month after taking office, Calderón declared war on the drug cartels and organized crime, thus beginning the
Mexican drug war. This was considered by many as an immediate strategy to gain popular legitimacy and acceptation for the new President after the convoluted elections. Calderón created the largest number of universities (96) in the history of Mexico. He was also the only president who granted full coverage and a secure spot in elementary schools to children from 6 to 11 years old. The Office of Social Aid for Victims of Violence (in Spanish:
Procuraduría Social para Víctimas de la Violencia) was created by him in 2011. During Calderón's administration, more than 1,000 hospitals were created, and more than 2,000 were reconstructed and amplified. During
Vicente Fox's administration, only 40 million people had access to a public health care system. Currently, more than 100 million Mexicans have access to their country's
health care system due to Calderón's effort to implement a universal health care system. Moreover, Calderón created more than 16,500 kilometers of
interstate highways. Calderón also dispatched military forces all over Mexico since the beginning of his presidency to put down the
drug cartels and the increasing violence generated by the criminal organizations that fight with rival groups for territory.
Health policy , then First Lady of Argentina, six months before she became president. The administration's move towards universal healthcare coverage remains one of the most popular policies of the administration. He launched Seguro Popular to make this policy a reality. Through his policies, significant health infrastructure has been built and access expanded in many areas of the country, while the costs have been lowered significantly for many people to the point that many medicines have already been distributed free of charge. The 2009 Swine Flu epidemic struck Mexico and was labeled a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The administration declared a state of emergency and acted firmly in giving open information to the world about the swine flu epidemic, and it acted with tough measures to contain its spread by shutting down many public services including schools. President Calderón appeared on television explaining the situation and demonstrating basic precautionary measures to take during the epidemic such as coughing into one's elbow rather than into the air. Tamiflu and vaccines were used in 2009 and in 2010 during flu season, and some deaths were undoubtedly prevented by the strong measures that were taken as well as due to a reduction in the spread and severity of the disease. Policies keeping people home and awareness of effective strategies may have helped prevent virulent forms of the virus from spreading as easily as minor forms that were harder to detect and identify. Criticism of Calderón's handling varied from early claims that his administration was not doing enough to later claims that the administration had exaggerated the measures that it had taken. The Mexican Genome Project was initiated by Calderón's administration in part as a response to the swine flu outbreak and to safeguard the discovering of genetic markers that will better target and assist Mexico's 100+ million people in regards to prevention and treatment of diseases and other health concerns such as diabetes. A study on the efficacy of the project confirmed, according to Dr. Jiménez-Sánchez, that "It is not possible today to say genetic variation is responsible for the unique H1N1 Influenza A mortality rate in Mexico. However, knowledge of genomic variability in the Mexican population can allow the identification of genetic variations that confer susceptibility to common diseases, including infections such as the flu." "It will also help develop pharmacogenomics to help produce medicines tailored to people of a specific genetic group, to the creation of drugs that are both safer and more effective." Calderón commended the achievement: "The genomic map of the Mexican population is an essential contribution of Mexico to science and public health. This study represents an important landmark to develop genomic medicine in Mexico to improve healthcare of its population. I commend our National Institute of Genomic Medicine, INMEGEN, for such a significant milestone."
Domestic environmental policy Felipe Calderón's administration raised awareness of environment issues including deforestation and climate change through various policy measures such as planting over 8 million trees and attracting green-technology companies to Mexico. Mexico also achieved a significant reduction in deforestation. This includes $2.5 billion investment in wind farms.
Economic policy The country's total GDP on a purchasing-power-parity basis is the 11th largest in the world and public policy now seeks to create quality jobs, reduce poverty and protect the standard of living of all classes. The administration has worked to attract investment, diversify the economy away from over-reliance on oil and the US market, upgrade infrastructure that has not kept up with the demands of the large economy, add jobs, reduce poverty, provide for a large middle class and reduce inequality. In keeping with its protection of the purchasing power of those least able to shield themselves through the use of financial instruments, the administration has succeeded in keeping prices and interest rates relatively low and stable even during the Great Recession and European debt crisis, while also avoiding the currency crashes of the 1980s and 1990s. The Mexican economy has been growing more quickly than the US economy during all but one year of the administration, even as US growth has been sluggish.
Infrastructure The administration has accelerated the building of public works projects and allocated federal funds towards infrastructure such as roads and bridges as an investment in the country's future growth. In 2012, the massive
Baluarte Bridge was inaugurated, which speeds travel between Mazatlán and Durango and allows for faster access between Mexico's coasts. The Baluarte Bridge is so high that the Eiffel Tower could fit under its central span.
Investment Through investments in infrastructure and free trade agreements, the administration won investments from many auto companies that decided to build factories in Mexico and expand existing facilities and models produced in Mexico. Mexico has become one of the top auto manufacturers in the world and for two years in a row far exceeded the previous records of auto production and export. The total
foreign direct investment during Calderón's presidency was US$70.494 billion.
Trade in Mexico City; 2010. In a move to expand new export opportunities that attract employment and diversify Mexico's crucial export sector away from excessive dependence on the US market, Mexico also expanded its trade accords beyond the US borders and sought to increase trade with the European Union, East Asia and Latin America. It was hoped that new infrastructure would help diversify Mexico's economy and improve stability in years to come. One new cooperative accord between major Latin American nations on the Pacific coast, called PaCiFiCa by
the Economist, has helped to isolate the participating nations from some of the fluctuations stemming from the European debt crisis as it looks towards greater trade with Asian nations. Mexico maintains positive trading relationships and trade discussions throughout the world so as to make Mexico an open economy with a growing number of trade opportunities for all regions of Mexico and aided by new infrastructure.
Tortilla Price Stabilization Pact The international price of
corn rose dramatically throughout 2006, leading to the inflation of
tortilla prices in the first month of Calderón's term. Because tortillas are the main food product consumed by the country's poorest, national concerns over the rising prices immediately generated political pressure on Calderón's administration. The president opted to use
price ceilings on tortillas that protected local consumers of corn. This price control came in the form of the
Tortilla Price Stabilization Pact between the government and many of the main tortilla producing companies, including
Grupo Maseca and
Bimbo, to put a price ceiling at 8.50 pesos per kilogram of tortilla. The hope was that a ceiling on corn prices would provide incentive for the market to lower all prices nationally. Critics argue that the pact was both nonbinding and a de facto acceptance of a maximum 30% increase in the price of that product (from 5.95 pesos per kilogram to 8.50 pesos per kilogram). Some tortillerías ignored the agreement, leading to price increases well in excess of the 8.50 pesos. Government opposition argued that this was an indication of the failure to protect the interests of its poor citizens. However, several major supermarkets, such as
Soriana and
Comercial Mexicana, sell the tortillas at a lower price than the one in the agreement – as low as 5.10 pesos per kilogram – which is interpreted opponents to price controls as clear evidence that price controls and the Tortilla Price Stabilization Pact were unnecessary. Additionally,
PROFECO, a consumer protection government organization, has also threatened with jail those tortilla producers who charge "excessive" prices.
Guillermo Ortiz, governor of the
Bank of Mexico, labeled the agreement "a success" for consumers and urged for it to continue as means to combat rising inflation.
First Employment Program Fulfilling an electoral promise, President Calderón launched the First Employment Program, which aims to create new opportunities for people entering the job market. The program will give cash incentives to companies for hiring first-time job holders, including young people graduating from higher education and millions of women who have never worked. The program has been interpreted as an effort to stop immigration into the United States. Immigration to the United States has been reduced, but many complex factors are involved including the US slowdown since 2008. Reactions to this program have been mixed. The president of the Mexican Association of Directors in Human Relations, Luis García, has anticipated a positive effect and even showed
Nextel's subsidiary in Mexico as an example for hiring 14% of its new workforce in 2006 as people in their "first employment".
Secretary of Labor Javier Lozano Alarcón has admitted that the program by itself will be insufficient to create as many new jobs as needed and has called for deeper reforms to allow for further investment.
Public servants salary cap President Calderón introduced, on his first day as president, a presidential decree limiting the president's salary and that of cabinet ministers. The measure excludes much of the bureaucracy and public servants in the legislative or judicial branches. According to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by
Reforma, the decree will affect 546 high-level government officials and save the government about US$13 million. The opposition has stated that the 10% reduction in salary as not being comprehensive enough. Like his opponent in the 2006 election, Calderón also proposed laws that, if passed, would lower salaries for public servants in all three branches of government and impose a cap on compensation. The proposal also includes measures to make the remuneration of public servants more transparent and subject to fiscalization.
Security policy Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with members of the
Mexican Army in the background. Despite imposing a cap on salaries of high-ranking public servants, Calderón ordered a raise on the salaries of the
Federal Police and the
Mexican Armed Forces on his first day as president. Calderón's government also ordered massive raids on drug cartels upon assuming office in December 2006 in response to an increasingly deadly spate of violence in his home state of
Michoacán. The decision to intensify drug enforcement operations has led to an
ongoing conflict between the federal government and the Mexican drug cartels. On 19 January 2007, five weeks into an army crackdown on narco gangs, Mexican soldiers and federal police captured Pedro Diaz Parada, the leader of one of Mexico's seven major drug cartels, the
Diaz Parada gang. The next day, in a controversial move, the government extradited several drug gang leaders to the United States. The Mexican government has also ordered Mexican soldiers and federal police into several cities, most notably
Tijuana and
Ciudad Juárez. In Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez, the army ordered that all local police officers surrender their weapons, as it was suspected that many officers had ties with drug cartels. Other states where actions were taken include Michoacán,
Tamaulipas,
Tabasco, and
Guerrero. In a January 2007 interview with the
Financial Times, Calderón said, "We have received very encouraging results. In the state of Michoacán, for example, the murder rate has fallen almost 40 percent compared with the average over the last six months. People's support in the regions where we are operating has grown, and that has been very important. Opinion polls have confirmed that, and I think we have made it clear to everyone that this issue is a priority for us". On 9 April 2007, the
Secretariat of Defense reported the following accomplishments in the first four months of Calderón's presidency: the capture of 1,102 drug dealers, the seizure of about 500 million
pesos, 556 kilograms of
marijuana, 1,419 military grade weapons, two airplanes, 630 automobiles, and 15 sea ships that transported drugs, and the destruction of 285 clandestine runways, 777 drug camps, 52,842 marijuana farms and 33,019
opium poppy farms. On 16 December 2009, the Mexican Navy killed Arturo Beltrán-Leyva, a once important drug trafficker. During Calderón's term, 25 of the
37 most wanted drug lords were either captured or killed. The government was relatively successful in detaining drug lords; however, drug-related violence remained high in contested areas along the U.S. border such as Ciudad Juárez, Tijuana, and Matamoros. Some analysts, like U.S. Ambassador to Mexico
Carlos Pascual, argued that this rise in violence was a direct result of Felipe Calderón's military measures. Although homicide rates in Mexico from 2000 to 2007 showed a general decline, now Mexico is considered to be among the top ten countries with the highest homicide rates. Since Calderón launched his military strategy against organized crime in 2006, there has been an alarming increase in violent deaths related to organized crime, "more than 15,000 people have died in suspected drug attacks since it was launched at the end of 2006." followed by 9600 murders in 2009, 2010 was violent, with over 15,000 homicides across the country. Not all those killed by the police and armed forces were criminals.
Javier Francisco Arredondo Verdugo, 23, and
Jorge Antonio Mercado Alonso, 24, students at the
Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education in Nuevo León, were killed by the
Mexican Army on 19 March 2010 in Mexico. First the army denied having anything to do with the killings, and then they falsely accused the young men of being drug dealers who were
armed to the teeth. 2011 showed higher homicides and 2012 showed a similar rate as 2011, with 2012 also being a presidential transition year and a year with high security spending nationwide. Homicides in 2020 and 2011 were in the 20,000 to 27,000 range.
Genaro Garcia Luna, Minister of Public Security from 2006 to 2012, is on trial in the US in 2020 for protecting the
Sinaloa cartel in exchange for millions of euros in bribes. The US Department of Justice believes that "thanks to his support, the [Sinaloa] organisation has maintained its activities without significant intervention by the authorities". President Calderón's support for his minister was highly controversial during his term in office, with the latter's connections to drug trafficking widely denounced by the press and opposition parties. His government was the first in the world to use the Israeli spy software
Pegasus, which was used to spy on political opponents and journalists. He himself was later spied on by the government of
Enrique Peña Nieto using this software.
Foreign policy , coordinated by Felipe Calderón (center). From left to right:
Manmohan Singh of
India,
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Calderón,
Hu Jintao of the
People's Republic of China and
Thabo Mbeki of South Africa. It was expected that Calderón would continue with the foreign policy started during Fox's term, known as the
Castañeda Doctrine, abandoning of the
Estrada Doctrine. He was expected to mediate with
'free market' Latin American countries. Calderón had been a proponent of the
Mesoamerican Integration and Development Project which was now merged with a similar funding and infrastructure project, the
Puebla-Panama Plan (PPP), started during the Fox administration. Calderón expanded the Mesoamerican Integration and Development Project / PPP, now including Colombia, and an agreement of cooperation against organized crime.
Jorge G. Castañeda,
Secretary of Foreign Affairs during the first half of Fox's administration and proponent of the "Castañeda Doctrine", suggested that Calderón's leadership and the Mesoamerican Integration and Development Project / PPP should be used as a counterpart to
Hugo Chávez's leadership of left-wing policies in Latin America. Calderón has stated that "the challenge (of the PPP) is to foster democratic practices with solid foundation in the region". Another landmark was the proposed
Mérida Initiative, a security cooperation initiative between the United States, the government of Mexico and the countries of Central America, with the aim of combating the threats of drug trafficking and
transnational crime.
Official international trips This is a list of
official trips abroad made by Calderón during his presidency. According to Article 88 of the
Constitution of Mexico, the president may leave the country for up to seven days by informing the
Senate or, where applicable, the
Permanent Commission in advance of the reasons for the absence, as well as of the results of the measures carried out. For absences longer than seven days, permission from the Senate or the Permanent Commission is required.
International environmental policy The Cancún Accord was a widely praised triumph credited to the deft handling by the Calderón and his team and received a standing ovation. Along with hosting and chairing the Cancún climate accord that reached agreements on targets and reaffirmed the agreement on compensating developing nations for damage from climate change, Mexico earned the G-20's trust and confidence to preside over the group during 2012, including a summit in Los Cabos.
Immigration reform Felipe Calderón made immigration reform one of his main priorities, and in 2008 he and the Mexican Congress passed a bill decriminalizing undocumented immigration into Mexico. He expressed his hopes that something be done to clear up the status of undocumented Mexican immigrants in the US. Before meeting with President Bush in March 2007, Calderón openly expressed his disapproval of building a wall between the two nations. After the U.S. Senate rejected the Comprehensive Immigration bill, President Calderón called the decision a "grave error".
Approval ratings . A poll by Ipsos-Bimsa shows a change in Calderón's approval rating at 57% in November 2007. In June 2008, Calderón's approval rating jumped to 64% before slipping to 62% in September. According to a March 2010 poll by GEA-ISA, 45% of respondents approved of their president's performance, down seven points since November 2009 polling at 52%. Polling firm Buendia & Laredo released a survey showing President Calderón's approval rating at 54% on 9 May 2011. On 27 February 2012, a poll by
El Universal showed a 58% approval rating with only 11% disapproval, a decrease in concern for security from 48% to 33% polled listing security as the top concern facing the government, 42% say things have improved in Mexico since Felipe Calderón's administration, 21% said things have stayed the same, while 34% said things have gotten worse. Grupo Reforma's poll published between 22 and 26 March 2012 noted that Calderón had an approval rate of 66% among 1,515 people. Consulta Mitofsky published a study on 23 August 2012 which concluded that after 22 trimesters the approval of Felipe Calderón fell to 46%. He ended his presidency with high approval ratings with 64% approving his administration, while 25% disapproved his administration. ==Controversies==